Miles and Points

Chase Ultimate Rewards Unexpected Error When Combining Points

Chase has a number of credit cards that earn points in the Ultimate Rewards program. While each of those cards shares the “Ultimate Rewards” name, the points may have a different value depending on which card you redeem them from. The good news is that you can combine them all onto the card with the highest redemption value. The bad news is: It doesn’t always work.

The Chase credit cards that earn UR points are: Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Sapphire, Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, and business cards such as Ink Cash, Ink Plus, Ink Preferred. In an earlier article, I showed you how and why you would want to combine your points onto one card. Chase permits card holders who live in the same household to combine UR points onto one of their cards. This is where many readers run into issues.

Unfortunately, Chase’s website doesn’t give you much explanation when combining points goes wrong. All you get is “an unexpected error has occurred” or “that card is not eligible to receive points at this time.” Trying again will repeatedly lead to the same results. I have a solution that works almost all the time. I’ll review the points combining process first. If you prefer, you can skip to the end for the solution.

Combining Points – A Short Review

First, log in to your Chase account. If you have multiple accounts, log in to the one that has UR points you want to transfer FROM. Click the banner that shows your points to go to the Ultimate Rewards website.

Once on the Ultimate Rewards site, click on your points at the top of the screen and you’ll see a menu appear.

Choose the “Combine Points” option. You can then follow the instructions to move some or all of your points onto your premium Chase card, or that of a member of your household.

If you’ve never combined points onto a household member’s card before, the right side of the screen should show this:

Click on that choice to bring up this screen:

Be sure to get your household member’s account number and last name exactly correct. Mistakes here can also lead to the “unexpected error”. If all has gone well, simply enter the number of points you wish to move and the transfer is instantaneous.


The Unexpected Error

Chase used to present you with a completely non-descript error message:

Now you get a slightly more helpful message:

In order to understand the solution, it’s best to understand the problem. Based on my research, Chase’s systems get a little temperamental when you try to combine points from more than one card onto a single card.

Consider this example: my wife has a Freedom and an Ink Cash. I have an Ink Preferred, a Freedom Unlimited and a Sapphire Reserve. We have 4 different logins for these 5 cards (business and personal cards are separate). I want all points on my Sapphire Reserve. Effectively, I’m trying to combine my points in this manner:

That’s 4 cards combining points onto just that one Sapphire Reserve. One will probably work. The rest will result in the unexpected error. So what to do?

The solution is to move points in a straight line from one card to the next, with the final card being the destination card–the Sapphire Reserve in my example.

This first step is paramount: we need a clean slate. Log in to each account and for each card, go to combine points and select the “Remove Saved Card” option.

The second step is also paramount: Wait at least 24 hours. Give Chase’s systems some time to update. Whatever they do, they tend to do overnight. Your patience will be rewarded. While you wait, you can design your own personal Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Transfer Chain. Here’s mine:

When you move points in a straight line, no one card sends or receives UR points from more than one other card. Once it’s set up, it’s easy. Just remember the order and this should resolve the error. If you get a new card like Sapphire Preferred, insert that card at the beginning of your chain.

If necessary, you can move points from the last card to the first card and then you’ll have a loop. You can always go back to step one and start over if you run into any problems. Don’t forget to wait the 24 hours.

Have you had this problem? Did this solution work for you? Leave a comment with your results.

HT: to Reddit Churning users bloc0102 and socco for the screen captures of the error messages.

If you like the information in this article, please consider supporting this blog by shopping with my Amazon Referral link.

46 Comments

  • Joe

    Great article! This has been an issue for me for years. I followed your instructions and was able to easily combine points from 5 different accounts in a matter of minutes. Thank you.

    • Yak

      @Pawel, only Chase IT dept knows for sure. If you try <24 hrs and it doesn't work, you need to start over again--including another 24 hour waiting period.

  • James

    When I went to “Combine Points”, I do not see any of my accounts (personal and business) listed under “Move my points from”. Effectively, I couldn’t do any point movement. Should I be concerned?

  • nkcfan

    After understanding “Chase’s systems get a little temperamental when you try to combine points from more than one card onto a single card”, I finally got the idea and combined the points from household to mine. Thanks for the smart idea!

  • Jason Fleetwood

    Ive been trying to transfer points from Ink business cash to Ink preferred. I was able to do it back in May no problem, but now I keep getting the unexpected error message? I called them and was told there was something wrong with their system. That was 2 weeks ago and it still wont work?

  • Amy

    I followed all of the above. I have no linked accounts currently. I do not have the add household member on mine or my husbands. But I am getting the error when trying to combine my CFU with his CSR

    • Yak

      Amy, it sounds like you’ve done everything right. Are you sure there’s no other card that has combined points onto your husband’s CSR? If all else fails, you’ll need to call Chase and have them combine the points for you.

    • Yak

      @Billy Bob, that means the the receiving card is included in the account that you are currently logged into. You can only “Remove Saved Card” if it’s a household member’s card, or your own card from a different login.

  • ph

    trying to move points from my mom CSP to my CSR getting “This card is not eligible to receive points from you at this time.” I don’t see the option to add household member.. only where to move my points to. Has the user interface changed?

    • Yak

      You can only combine points to one household member. If there’s already a card listed there, you need to remove it, then add your CSR.

  • AC

    I learned that when I already combined Family member B to Family member A and Family D to Family C, I could not combine C to A (error: “This card is not eligible to receive points from you at this time”) unless B removed A from B’s list of House hold member card. Hope this helps. Thanks for the instruction how to remove.

  • Wendy

    You are a genius. No other online solution worked. Nobody on the Chase Executive line knew how to solve this and then (Yay Google) I found your easy fix. It worked like a charm. Thank you !!!

  • deTechie

    Thank you so much for this tutorial. I had that dreaded unexpected error as well and couldnt find a solution until i read this post. 2 years later, still helping people out!

  • JT

    Chase still unable to resolve “This card is not eligible to receive points from you at this time” after many phone calls and messages. We are trying to combine UR points from Family A to Family B. Family A has both Preferred and a new Freedom Unlimited, but Family B just Preferred. Chase is asking us to unlink account but there’s no “Remove Saved Card” option on the receiving side? How do you unlink? Do we need to transfer points on Family A’s side from Preferred to Freedom Unlimited first, then add Family B’s Preferred account work? If doesn’t work, would I be able to transfer points back to Preferred? HELP

    • Yak

      It sounds to me that some other card has at one time or another combined UR points onto Family B’s Preferred. That “other card” is where Family B’s Preferred needs to be unlinked.

  • Andrea

    I’m still confused after your tutorial. Currently I have all my business cards and personal cards under 1 login including one of my husband’s business card which I transfer all the points to my CSR. He recently got the CSP, which is a separate login. How can I transfer those points earned in his CSP to my CSR?
    Do I add my CSR to his CSP login?

  • Mandy

    I’ve been trying to combine my husband’s points to mine with no luck. Initially was moving from his CSP to my CSR and got the error. Attempting to follow your chain, I transferred his points from his CSP to his Chase Freedom, waited 24+ hours and then attempted to combine from his Chase Freedom to my CSR – same error. On a lark, I tried combining his Chase Freedom to my CBIP. This error said I was missing information. Any additional advice? TIA!

    • Yak

      Hi Mandy, If you’ve tried everything that my post recommends and it still doesn’t work, you’ll need to call Chase to have them move the points for you.

  • Kevin

    Thanks so much for this info. I just ran into the same issue. First successfully transferred from my CIP to my CSR, then had the unexpected error when going from my spouse’s CIP to my CSR. Unfortunately, I transferred all the points from my CIP, so at the page of combining points, it doesn’t show the saved card any more, instead, it displays a message “You don’t have any points to combine at this time”. Do you think the card is still saved there, and would block me from other transfer even if I wait 24 hours? Thanks.

  • Christine

    I no longer see the part that says “Remove Saved Card”. It now says the Current balance. I am not able to add my husband’s card to transfer even after removing it everywhere else and waiting 24 hours. Is this a glitch or are they changing things? TIA!

  • Rene

    So we are getting this error, and have been working with Chase for almost 4 weeks. After some back and forth a couple weeks with them telling me each time “everything looks fine on our end you should be able to combine points”, I asked if they would just combine the points for us, and they said they would resolve the issue and mail us a letter. Got the letter today, and it is simply a form letter giving the directions to combine points (which we’ve already tried a dozen or more times, even while on the phone with them!).

    Here’s the situation. I have had a freedom card for many years, then got a CSP a few years ago. I have been combining my points from my freedom to my CSP within the same account no problem the past couple years (and still can). I have never transferred points into or out of another household member’s card, only between my own freedom and CSP (which is why I also don’t have an option to remove saved card, because they are both mine).

    Last December, my husband got a CSP card (I am not on his account). We are now trying to transfer points from his CSP to my CSP. We log into his account, and go to combine points page. It didn’t show any saved cards or any other cards (he only has the CSP). Enter in my CSP card number and last name, and it results in this “not eligible to receive points” error, no matter how many times we try.

    Just to see after receiving this unhelpful letter from them today, I went into my account, and when I select combine points, I see my freedom card, and option to add household member. I then add his CSP, and what do you know, I can transfer to his. However, we don’t want to combine onto his, we want to combine points onto mine. I deleted his card back out of mine. Still can’t set up my CSP under his CSP.

    If you have any suggestions, or what we can say to the customer service so we can finally get this resolved, it would be appreciated! Chase is being no help at all.

    • Yak

      @Rene, The only suggestion I have is to see if you can combine points from your husband’s CSP onto your Freedom card instead of your CSP. If that works, you can them combine them onto your CSP. That’s the “straight line” method I describe in this post. Let me know if it works.

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